As an actor I am always waiting for my luck to run out.
Tom HanksRead
But I also think all of the great stories in literature deal with loneliness. Sometimes it's by way of heartbreak, sometimes it's by way of injustice, sometimes it's by way of fate. There's an infinite number of ways to examine it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great literature often explores the theme of loneliness through various narratives.
In this quote, Tom Hanks emphasizes the profound presence of loneliness in literature, suggesting that it serves as a central theme in many great stories. He points out that loneliness can manifest through different experiences such as heartbreak, injustice, or fate, indicating that this emotional state is multifaceted and can be examined from countless angles within the storytelling tradition.
Themes
LonelinessLiteratureHeartbreakInjusticeFateStories
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class discussing the themes of novels, this quote can be used to illustrate how authors navigate the subject of loneliness.
More from Tom Hanks
All quotes →Even the simplest choice can make a jaw-dropping difference in our world.
Tom HanksRead
My kid could get a bad X-ray and I could get a call from the doctor saying I have something growing in my bum and that would change my perspective on everything instantaneously, on what is and what is not important.
Tom HanksRead
Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?
Tom HanksRead
I think it's better to feel good than to look good.
Tom HanksRead
If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment.
Tom HanksRead
Similar quotes
Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices...rather than to root them out.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
My most resolute opponents believe that I am too visible, that I am a little too alive, that my name echoes too much in the texts which they nevertheless claim to be inaccessible.
Jacques DerridaRead
The international community should support a system of laws to regularize international relations and maintain the peace in the same manner that law governs national order.
Pope John Paul IiRead
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Not only during the ascent, but also during the descent my willpower is dulled. The longer I climb the less important the goal_x000D_ seems to me, the more indifferent I become to myself. My attention_x000D_ has diminished, my memory is weakened. My mental fatigue is now_x000D_ greater than the bodily. It is so pleasant to sit doing nothing - and therefore so dangerous. Death through exhaustion is like death_x000D_ through freezing - a pleasant one.
Reinhold MessnerRead
All diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to demons; chiefly do they torment freshly-baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless new-born infants.
Saint AugustineRead